


I've got you, brother

by Stardustwrites17



Series: Whumptober 2020 (or where I hurt the Hargreeves) [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Cussing, Gen, Good Sibling Diego Hargreeves, Good Sibling Vanya Hargreeves, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, Kidnapping, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Soft Diego Hargreeves, Waking up Restrained, Whumptober 2020, and he gets one because i say so, because i wanted to start strong, days 1 and 2, lots of injuries, the author is tired so be kind please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26791459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardustwrites17/pseuds/Stardustwrites17
Summary: Five woke up to someone shouting his name, which only made the banging that seemed to be going on inside his skull to increase.“Shut uuup” he moaned, not bothering to open his eyes and tensing, expecting some sort of pain for his comment. Talking back always brought punishment with it.“Hey” the mystery person put a hand on his cheek, and immediately Five flinched and shut his eyes, expecting a slap, but it never came. Instead, the hand caressed his cheek, brushing his bruised cheekbone with his thumb. There was that feeling again, the hand was familiar to him, the rough calluses and the gentle touch… even the smell made him feel at home....When Five goes missing for a week, his siblings do everything they can to find him.Diego finally does, he takes his littlest-oldest sibling back home.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: Whumptober 2020 (or where I hurt the Hargreeves) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953697
Comments: 24
Kudos: 489





	I've got you, brother

**Author's Note:**

> I have nothing to say except I'm tired and I wanna sleep. Enjoy

Five woke up to someone shouting his name, which only made the banging that seemed to be going on inside his skull to increase. 

“Shut uuup” he moaned, not bothering to open his eyes and tensing, expecting some sort of pain for his comment. Talking back _always_ brought punishment with it. 

He flinched when a hand landed on his shoulder and travelled to the back of his neck. Oh god, that meant the needle was coming. 

Panic seized him with an iron grip, and he struggled weakly against his restraints, even though he knew it was futile. Honestly, the constant sedation was even worse than the beatings. As he waited for the sting in his neck and sensation of floating, accompanied by the blanket of cool darkness, he wondered, why would they wake him up for this? And he was still pretty out of it from the previous dose, if his blurry vision and ringing ears were anything to go by, so why now? 

Still, he tried to shake the hand off, snarling blindly at the person in front of him. 

“‘ive, it’s me…” the voice sounded muffled, like it was coming from underwater. There was something about that voice… it sounded so familiar, but he couldn’t put a finger on it. 

“Hey” the mystery person put a hand on his cheek, and immediately Five flinched and shut his eyes, expecting a slap, but it never came. Instead, the hand caressed his cheek, brushing his bruised cheekbone with his thumb. There was that feeling again, the hand was familiar to him, the rough calluses and the gentle touch… even the smell made him feel at home. 

Home…

The world gradually came into focus as the seconds passed, and soon enough he could make out brown eyes and wavy hair. 

“Diego?” His voice sounded hoarse and broken, as if he had been screaming for days… which he had. 

His brother let out a shaky sigh.

“Jesus, don’t scare me like that, old man” 

“What-“

“It took us a while but we found you”

Five hummed, watching as his brother worked on the chains wrapped around his wrists and trying to form his next sentence.

“How long-“ that’s how much he got out before he started coughing. God, he needed some water. Those assholes hadn’t given him barely any ever since they captured him.

“A week” he chose to ignore the tremble in Diego’s voice. 

Huh. A week. It had felt both longer and shorter than that. 

It took a while (or maybe a few seconds, time was fuzzy when you were this drugged… or was he concussed? He couldn’t tell anymore) but the chains finally fell to the floor with a clang, making Five squeeze his eyes shut as the headache worsened at the noise. 

Without a word, Five got to his feet, something inside him pushing him to get away from that chair, where he had bled and cried (for a week, apparently); but the moment he tried to take a step, the world turned black ( _one step, that’s all it took to bring him to his knees. God, he was pathetic_ ).

He came to what he assumed was a second later, because he was leaning against Diego, who had an arm wrapped around him.

“Whoa, hey, I’ve got your, brother”

And later Five would convince himself that it was only because of the physical and emotional hell he’d been through that week, that he let himself bury his face in his brother's jacket and simply breathe. 

After a moment, Diego wrapped his other hand around him, shielding him from the world as he allowed himself a few seconds of weakness. 

He stepped back as he pushed his hand through his dirty hair, although Diego kept his hands on his arms, which was good, because he might’ve fallen over if he let go. 

Diego studied his pale and bruised face for a second before crouching down. 

“Climb on my back”

Five looked at him wearily. Diego sighed.

“You’re not getting out of here walking, so unless you want me to carry you over my shoulder like a bag of potatoes, climb on my back”

They had a staring contest. Five’s fists glowed a feeble blue, but Diego held his gaze, calling his bluff. 

Eventually Five looked away with a huff before limping his way to his brother’s back. 

Diego stood up, his arms underneath Five’s legs to support him. He felt Five’s wiry arms wrap around his neck gingerly. He smelled like blood and sweat, a scent Diego was all too familiar with.

As they walked through the corridors, they passed several bloodied bodies. Five recognized a few faces. Neither brother commented on it. 

Diego could feel Five’s body sag with each step, until his head was leaning against his shoulder. 

“Thanks for coming” Five said quietly after a few minutes of silence.

“What, you didn’t think we would?” It was a joke, but Five’s silence made his gut drop.

“Hey, of course we came. Luther barely slept all week, Vanya broke the windows when she found out. We were worried sick, man” 

There was a moment of silence before Five whispered.

“I know” 

The silence returned for a while until Five said, his voice hoarse and his words slurred once again.

“Where’re we going?” 

Diego frowned “home. Did you get hit on the head, Five?”

“Lots ‘f times. They didn’t like when I talked back” there was a moment in which Five seemed to be pondering something. “The needle was worse though”

Diego’s blood ran cold.

“What needle?”

“They kept drugging me, so I couldn’t use m’powers...” his head sagged completely against his shoulder.

“Five, don’t fall asleep, bud” Five grunted.

“Don’t call me bud, ‘m not a kid” 

“You look like one, shorty”

“Fuck you, Diego”

Five sounded more alert now, good.

“Listen I need to call ahead, so mom can get the infirmary prepped, I need you to list off injuries” 

Five thought for a moment.

“Stab wound on the leg, from when they first captured me, so you know, blood loss” he took a deep breath and winced. “A few cracked or bruised ribs, several lacerations and a ton of bruises” 

His voice cracked at the last words. God it hurt, but he coughed once and continued 

“Possible concussion, dehydration and starvation” 

“W…. What about your throat?” He could tell Diego was upset, because he said the phrase slowly, mouthing the words carefully, the way he sometimes did when his stutter made an appearance.

“That’s just from…” Screaming, he almost said. He cleared his throat. “it’s been a rough week” his voice broke again, damn it.

Five knew Diego knew what he meant, he was probably ticked off about Five trying to water it down, but Five was the older brother here, appearances aside, and he would rather eat his own hand than tell Diego that he had spent hours calling his and the rest of his siblings’ names, delirious with pain and drugged to oblivion. 

He must have gotten lost in thought because when he looked up again they were in front of Diego’s car. 

With one arm still under Five, he opened the door to the passenger seat. At this point Five was struggling to keep his eyes open, so he simply let Diego kneel down and stood up, his legs shaking and his stab wound throbbing, long enough for Diego to turn around and pick him up again. He let Diego manhandle him into the passenger seat. His head throbbed along with his heartbeat, and every breath sent a spike of pain from his ribs. God, why couldn’t the sedation also dull the pain? He felt like one big pulsing bruise. 

The other door opened and closed, and suddenly they were in motion. 

Diego started talking… who was he talking to? 

“Concussed, drugged out of his mind too… yeah his ribs are pretty messed up… hang on, I’ll put you on speaker”

Diego turned to look at him 

“Five? Vanya wants to talk to you”

He made an effort to open his eyes, looking around slowly.

“Where ‘s she?” 

“Phone, bud”

“Don’t call me bud” he muttered as he closed his eyes again. Everything was spinning. “Hi, Vanya” He said, ignoring the twinge of pain from his throat.

“Hey Five, who are you feeling?” There was a tremble in her voice he didn’t like one bit. 

“Peachy, thanks f’r asking… I’ve missed you” he added as an afterthought.

There was a wet laugh from the other line, good, he’d made her smile.

“We’ve missed you too, Five” 

He hummed in acknowledgement, feeling the pull of sleep tugging at his mind. 

“Five? Don’t fall asleep man, we’re almost there”

Sorry Diego, he wanted to say, but his tongue felt heavy and his eyes wouldn’t open.

“Fuck!” 

There was a screech from the tires, the smell of burning rubber, nausea churning in his gut, and then… nothing. 

...  
  


After that, there were mere flashes: people shouting from what sounded far away, someone lifting him up, his head on somebody’s shoulder; pain, so much he wanted to scream, and then laying against something soft, and a hand running through his hair. 

...

He woke up hours later to the feeling of someone holding his hand, rubbing their thumb against his knuckles. 

His head hurt, but he still turned it, ignoring how that sole movement made the room spin. 

Vanya was sitting there, looking pale and gaunt; Diego sitting next to her, also looking dangerously pale. He was sound asleep against her shoulder. When Vanya saw his eyes open she smiled and brought her finger to her lips, flicking her eyes over to Diego briefly. 

Honestly, Five doubted he could’ve spoken even if he’d tried, feeling was starting to creep back into his body and everything ached. There was an IV attached to his arm, and a used blood transfusion bag discarded on a table next to him, so that solved the mystery of Diego’s sickly appearance. 

“You alright?” He asked anyway, even if his voice cracked several times and his throat stung something fierce. 

In response Vanya lifted his hand and kissed his knuckles.

“Sleep” she said, which didn’t satisfy him in the slightest, but he could feel his eyelids getting heavier with each passing moment, and for the first time in a long while, he let sleep drag him into the darkness peacefully, concentrating on the feeling of Vanya’s hand against his.

**Author's Note:**

> You may ask yourself "who captured Five? What was the purpose?"  
> The answer is that the author doesn't know or care and you shouldn't either bc I wrote this sleep-deprived.  
> Like always, comments will be treasured forever :)


End file.
